Plastics in their varied formulations and applications are effectively a part of nearly every element of modern commerce, science and technology. The development and use of polymer blends and composites represent a significant advance through which desired characteristics of two or more components may be combined in a single material.
Barbee, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,384,121 B1, issued May 7, 2002 describe and claim nanocomposite material and products produced from such nanocomposite material. The heart of the '121 invention is a polymer-clay nanocomposite comprising three elements: a melt-processable matrix polymer, clay material that is itself comprised of solid layers, and a matrix-compatible, functionalized oligomer or polymer with an onium group. The essential layered clay material is any organic or inorganic material or mixture which is in the form of a plurality of adjacent, bound layers. The patent does not describe or anticipate layers of polymers in the composite; layering is suggested in the '121 patent only in the context of the above summarized definition of “layered clay material.”
Among the various methods available to produce plastic materials, increased understanding of a new process of blending polymeric constituents of plastic composites has led to novel and improved composites and methods to produce them. Fundamental to one rapidly emerging process is the understanding that particles can be advected along complex paths in even simple flow fields, and the motion over time can become chaotic, a behavior known as chaotic advection, and, because of the newly discovered ability to control the in situ structure development, a process now referred to as smart blending. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,770,340 issued Aug. 3, 2004 to Zumbrunnen and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/385,118 (Zumbrunnen et al. filed Mar. 10, 2003), both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.